Chapter 21. Playing Go.
Hello, back from weekend.
This weekend I was not too busy with my household chores, so I managed to find free time for one of my hobbies - playing Go (iGo, Baduk - there are several name for the game in different regions). Go is an ancient board game which was invented in China more than a thousand years ago and has been developing mostly by Japanese nowadways. To my mind, despite the simplicity of the rules, it's an extraordinary interesting game. It holds lots of levels of strategy and tactics and requires different mental skills like good memory, concentration, confidence and so on. As far as I know I'm not the one who admire this game, because it's the most widespread board game in the world. (May be due to prevailed Asia population. :) )
We've got a group of Go zealots in our town. One of them was my colleague some time ago and he tought me to play. Then I bought a set of 'stones' (pieces in Go) and made a Go-board by myself. Despite I'm not a good player yet myself, I teach my kids whilst inspire them with the 'Hikaru no Go' anime. The anime in in Japanese with english subtitles. So from time to time we play Go and my childer sing songs in Japanese and dream about 'the divine move' :)
Thanks the progress, the Internet provides players of all the board games with tremendous possibility of playing all over the world. There are lots of internet-servers where a player of any rank can easily find an opponent for a game. That's great, because for me this is the best way to play Go and to develop my skills. Maybe once upon a time I even met someone of the blog readers inside the Go-servers space ;). And one more thing about Go and IT - as far as I'm concerned, Go is the only game left where a computer yet can not compete with a human.
Now, back to English. Tricia, It's an interesting story about Your teacher Miss Cosy-Wright. I think it's a milestone in the life of every person - to meet such a teacher. I'm afraid I can't brag with such an occasion. I'd been inspired mostly by literature or historical characters.
This is wonderful, Tricia, that You happen to be an IELTS examenor. I just haven't caught Your thought about confidentiality of Examenors... Does it mean that You can't share with me, for instance, some common errors wich people do in the exam? That would be pity.
And thanks for all the comments I've got. By the way, for those who still haven't understood a good way of improving his or her writing skill... Here it is - the blog. :)
Alex.
Comments
Hi! Your photo and thoughts about playing Go reminded me the time when I was in easten Europe and in Asia: there were plenty of people playing something like Go or chess, or some other things that I don't know. I really enjoyed observing erderly people who used their time in so nice way: sitting on grass or banks discussing, arguing and playing... I truly admire such traditions. Good luck !
It is a pity that I-Go was invented by ancient Chinese while develped and spread by Japanese these days.It is really an interesting game,althouth I just know little about it.
hi, Alex.the go game that you mentioned in your blog reminds me of my father.he was a professor and taught chemistry in an university.though he has been passed away for a few years ,one thing that impressed me deeply was he always played the game with his friend all night long.that made my mother feel angry.but the winner's smile on his face made me look up to him.i know no one else could play better than him.but unlucky, i am not excel in it and even in chemistry .i am interested in literature and English .i inherited it from my mother.
you remind me the music and you gave the courrage to start now who can i find the to remind my selve about the music thank
Hi Alex, I couldn’t understand what you meant when you say “SO FROM TIME TO TIME” in the chapter 21. I really hope that you can explain to me. Thank you a lot!!
for andrielledcf from Brazil: "From time to time" means not at a regular basis, spontaneously.
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